'Pardon me, Cecil, if my jokes annoy you; but if she does not wish to marry this fellow Hew, why should she?'
'Why?'
'Yes; no power can compel her. The day is passed when girls can be married against their will, except in novels. There may be, I am aware, a mild system of domestic pressure, a steady and persevering domestic tyranny, quite as mischievous in the end, sometimes, as the brute force of the terrible old baron or stern parent of the Middle Ages; and I have even known more than one case in which the feeble opposition of a girl has been foiled under the powerful home-current, as it flowed on and bore her away with it.'
'By Jove, Leslie, you are a Job's comforter! And now, by-the-bye, there is another girl at Eaglescraig of whom I have not yet spoken—a lady on a visit.'
'And your mind was divided between them?'
'Not at all, though the beauty and style of Annabelle Erroll are indescribable.'
'Who did you say?' exclaimed Leslie Fotheringhame, as his voice and face changed curiously, he took the cigar from his lips and sat bolt upright in his chair.
'Annabelle Erroll; she knows you, by the way, and I hope the general will, in turn, invite you to Eaglescraig.'
'I hope not,' said Fotheringhame, sadly and fervently; 'by Jove, I hope not!'
'Why?'